Students get an ideal Olympics taster

20 June 2012

From handball to table tennis and triathlon, on 13-15 June over 200 students from four universities including Imperial came to the College to get a taster of what it would be like to participate in the Olympics in London in the annual IDEA league sports event.

The students from Imperial, TU Delft, ETH Zurich and RWTH Aachen got a chance to compete in a range of sports in Ethos (where nine Olympic triathlon teams will be training next month) and in Hyde Park – where the athletes will be competing.

The trip included a visit to various central London Olympic venues – including Lords which will be hosting archery and Horse Guards Parade, where the beach volleyball will be taking place.

This was the twelfth IDEA league sports event,which has grown from an initial volleyball tournament to a two-and-a-half day competition consisting of various activities, decided by the host nation. Imperial last hosted the event back in 2007.

The sporting competition has developed from the existing academic IDEA League which was founded in 1999. The league is a network of five science and technology universities which have joint research and education activities.

Commenting on the event, Assistant Director of Commercial Services and Head of Sport Imperial Neil Mosley said: “With it being the Olympic year in London Imperial were very happy to host it once again. With the theme “Played in the spirit of the Games” very much a focus, there was a really nice atmosphere about the event. The highlight for me was seeing Imperial students winning the men’s handball challenge and Sophie Kirk [Civil and Environmental Engineering] winning the triathlon.”